Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1887-03-12
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How 1t Operates In CONTRAST win Burial DIS
ease Germs Destroyed.
G. =. Gordon Cummings in St. James Gazette
L tLondon
Whatever may be my opinion - to Gre
| mating the dead OF our own species u 70 nos
| that of which would nov speak. wnM
wish 20 call attention 20 10 the disposal OF the
| carcssses OF animals slaus htersd In obedience
| TO law the law which provides that cattle /
| suffering from certain infectious diseases, |
| and in some cases whole herds which from
| contact with diseased beasts may be thought
infected, shall be slsug ughtered, and their car.
casses disposed Ct by burial or otherwise, %
the local authorities may deem expedient
According TO the regulation Of the privy
council, every carcass, II disposed Of by
burial, must be buried - soon - possible In
Its ekin, and be covered with Q sufficient
| quantity Of quicklime or other disinfectant,
| and with not less than six feet Of earth. II
il further enjoined that when the local au.
thorities direct that carcass 10 TO be buried,
they must first cause its skin to be % elashed
| as to render 1t uselesA
That obedience to these regulations 10 not
| invariable must be inferred from such Q case
% was tried in the borough police court Of
Inverness in the beginning Of January, when
two lsborers were charged with having dug
up carcass, or Part OF . CARCASS, which had
been 80 inferred, and with having sold the
skin to a firm Of tanners for 13A The skin
was afterwards sent on to Aberdeen, where
| the police authorities succeeded In recover.
ing It the charge having been proved, the
chief culprit WAS sentenced TO pay fiue OF
a l5., with the alternative Of ten days impris.
onment; his companion being dismissed
o | with an admonitiou. A light sentence was
!. imposed in consideration that the offenders
were ignorant of the law which declares 1t IL.
tN "A IN rinA uy,k h
jects the delinquent to Imprisonment with
or without hard labor, for any period not ex'
ceeding ten months.
Now, 1t may well be inferred that :or one
!" such case which is detected several may
@ | pass unsuspected though We may hope tha
II | no parallel has arisen to one case which &C
d | Cured about thirty years ago, which pleuro
!. pneumonia had but recently appeared In thi
a. country. On that occasion some low.clas
ID butchers went from Dundee to Fiie AMI
of there exhuming carcasses OF animals that ha,
q died OF the new disease, sold them as goo,
meat Horrible As such an otfense appears
1t yet when We hear Of miscreants who sell oil
e. clothes knowing them to he infected wit
III | smallpox, We may readily believe that ther
he exist many whose consciences would nc
p. hinder them from resping . paltry gain .
neighbors cattle. Against such criminal
ve | society has need to guard itself by the use
ly all possible precautions and apparentl
o. none can afford such absolute security . II
burning versus burying tho carcassea mu
OF course involve some outlay on fuel, II
animal charcoal thus obtained would pro
sn ab;y prove OF such value - considerably
&c educe the cost at which immunity from
serious danger might be secured.
20 For we must bear in mind that II IL n
~ %, only against human stupidity and reckle
~ cupidity that We have TO guard. Deep.bu
20. sIrIao. germs OF disease which long yea
'ei before have been, ~ wes .ondIy suppose
eo stamped out NJ. Pasteur has obtain,
germs OF disease, as virulent a. in the nc
ne Of ieAth, from pin wherein cattle killed
ny splenic lever had bee1 buried twelve yee
De | previously.
TO That germs OF diseases are thus spread, n
IT, may be conveyed to animals BY the We
'ck grass they eat, has otten been proved. Ev
on diseases which siiict humanity may fats
ny poison the earth tor animals Thus, In {
ne course OF an investigation OF the cemeter
so OF Rie de Janeiro in 1888, earth taken only
tn foot below the surface, from graves whit
Hi. victims Of yellow fever had been inter-
ent twelve months before, was found to conts
os' myriads Of microbes identical with tho
present in living patients. A perfect
nd healthy guineapg was shut up in confin
space sprinkled with earth taken from Il
the grave, and in five days the animal was dea
its blood being found to be "litera
s cIammed as .,SIt;, with c,5yp'ococcus in vario
ell Now, by the simple precaution Of creu
oi tion all such risks are absolutely annull,
In one short hour the Identical result viii
OF Is sought in earth.burisl Is produced W
vas this difference that in the latter case tweu
es years may not suffice to attain the desir
end "The body yields In the furnace {
ow | very same solids aud gases which 1t yiel
he from the soil. The time only differs. Ear,
Jug burial destroys the SOIL it fouls the air. 1t
teammates the water, and 1t IL fertile soul
of human disease" These are the words
ins so great q scientific authority as Sir Ly
ats Pisyfair
In the face of such evidence, it surely
the unwise not to obey the teachings OF scien
wn | at least In regard to the lower anima
There are those who shrink from the
I'd creased trouble and expense OF cremsti
ver, versus burial, on the idea that pleuro-pnt
h q monia (Which at the present moment nee
nan states Inc slaughter OF many herds In va
Gus parts OF ScOtland) 10 by no means 70 c,
! tagious as some other diseases, such - r
rest derpsst nevertheless, the prevalence OF Q
was such disease suggests the expediency
opg adopting every means Of stamping It o
Where a stone tank Is available II might
k at possible to dissolve Injected carcasses
ary chemical means But large quantities
that dangerous chemicals are best kept In prof
up sional hands; whereas the kindling Oi
can funeral pyre does not involve either INTEL
our or educa,ion in excess OF the capacity OF
uld average agricultural lxborer.
lick